Psalm 1/Verbs

Verbs

Verb forms

Definition Feature being studied	Occurrences Sections where this feature is present or absent	Clustering	Intersection	Connections	Structure
qatal	הלך (v.1b), עמד (v.1c), ישב (v.1d)	v. 1			"The initial cluster of three parallel qatals (1b-d) is followed by a verbless line (2a) and a line with yiqtol (2b); the changes from verbal to nonverbal and then to a different conjugation parallel the change in content, which moves from what does not characterize the happy man (1a-d) to what does (2a-b)."<ref>Frederic Putnam, “Working with Biblical Hebrew Poetry,” in Basics of Hebrew Discourse, edited by Miles van Pelt (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2019), 184-185.</ref>
yiqtol	יהגה (v.2b), יתן (v.3b), יבול (v.3c), יצליח (v.3d), תדפנו (v.4b), יקמו (v.5a), תאבד (v.6b)	vv. 2-6			(see above cell)
weqatal	והיה (v.3a)		beginning of third subunit within the first strophe (v.3)
participle	יודע (v.6a)	only v.6a	beginning of final strophe (v.6)		"The only non-finite predicate in the poem is the participle יוֹדֵעַ (v. 6a). Since the six verbal predicates in lines 3b-6a are yiqtols, it seems highly probably that the poet used a participle here... to mark the shift from the description of the wicked to the summary statement that closes the poem and maintains the "righteous...wicked" pattern of the body of the poem (6a-b)."<ref>Frederic Putnam, “Working with Biblical Hebrew Poetry,” in Basics of Hebrew Discourse, edited by Miles van Pelt (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2019), 184-185.</ref>

The negative choices of the righteous are all qatal forms, and the rest of the psalm entirely yiqtol/weqatal/participle. The semantics fit with present perfect for v. 1: these are things the righteous 'have not done', whereas v. 2 has what the righteous do and the rest of the psalm has the results that 'will/do happen' to the general classes of righteous & wicked. The split is thus

• past/perfective (what has not happened, v. 1)
• present habitual (verbless & yiqtol) for the righteous
• present habitual / future for the results

This means every verb is non-specific: it either refers to the class of the righteous/wicked or it refers to a typical behaviour/action of the LORD. The entire psalm speaks in categories, rather than specifics.

The implications are myriad, in terms of the regularity and reliability of how people's decisions / alignment with righteousness or wickedness bring on their own results.

>> The purpose of this psalm is not to instruct on proper actions (although that is covered briefly and is an assumption); the purpose of this psalm is to instruct on the outcomes of one's prior choices.

• v. 1bcd. The qatal verbs are all negated and activities the righteous is to reject. This has led to confusion over the meaning of qatal/yiqtol, but here is used poetically as one more way to oppose the righteous from the wicked. The qatal verbs are probably perfect, not habitual (as they are normally translated), i.e. ‘who has not gone…’ and not ‘who goes’ (qatal is quite rare as a habitual and yiqtol would have been unambiguously habitual given the context).

• v. 2b. The phrase יוֹמָם וָלָיְלָה establishes the Topic Time and makes the yiqtol (יֶהְגֶּה) necessarily habitual. The null copula can be past, present, or future, but I am not sure if it can be any aspect. If so, a better translation might be ‘his delight has been in the law of God’ to match the qatal forms in the previous verse.

• v. 3a. The Hebrew perfect verbal form with waw consecutive here (וְהָיָה) continues the sense of the imperfect in the preceding verse. Thus, the one who studies and obeys (does) God’s commands typically prospers in life in a biblical proverbial sense. וְהָיָה is probably connected to the previous verse as a consequence, though this need not be expressed explicitly in the translation.

• v. 3bc. The subsequent imperfect verbal forms in v. 3 (יִתֵּן and יִבּוֹל) draw attention to the typical nature of the actions/states they describe. Alternatively, these verbs may be future relative to the planting rather than habitual, i.e. ‘whose fruit will be borne on time and whose leaf will not wither.’ This creates expectation for what will happen as a result of the planting. In other words, the planting will cause something to happen in the future relative to it.

• v. 3d. The TAM in the last clause of this verse could either be hypothetical and then future or two habituals. The difference would be ‘and (in) all he might do, he will succeed’ vs. ‘and (in) all he does, he succeeds.’ Most translations have the latter, and the difference is fairly inconsequential.

• v. 4b. The Hebrew imperfect verb (תִּדְּפֶנּוּ) draws attention to the typical nature of the action described.

• v. 5.

Is v.5 a timeless description like the rest of the psalm, or does this verse narrate future events (eschatological prediction)?

"There is no evidence that the judgment here spoken of is the tribunal of man. Clearly the reference is to the judgment of God."

"Ps. 1:5, in view of Ps. 24:3, provisionally must be translated, 'therefore the wicked will not enter the judgment court, nor sinners the congregation of the righteous.' And the meaning would be as follows: The רשׁעים do not have access to the act of sacral judgment (משׁפט), which is the presupposition for access to the sanctuary, and therefore also do not arrive at the עֵדָה of the צדיקים, that is the congregation that praises God in the holy place (Pss. 118:19, 20; 111:1)... Or course... it is probably not at all conceivable that the sacral-legal and the cultic institutions still have a real significance for our psalm. The concepts and formulations are indeed molded from that model, but they have largely been spiritualized. The sacral-judicial institution of משׁפט mentioned in Psalm 1 and the עדת צדיקים transcend the empirical reality of the cultic-sacral and are made transparent entities that affect all of existence and point to the end-time. Thus those conceptions would finally be proved to be correct which speak–perhaps too quickly and too rashly–of משׁפט as of the 'final judgment' and of עדה as the 'messianic congregation of the new world.'"

The context and the meaning of קוּם with מִשְׁפָּט seem to actually favor a circumstantial reading of yiqtol in the future ‘will not be able to,’ though I am not sure if this is possible without the periphrastic construction יוּכְלוּ לָקוּם. Either way, the statement seems to be generic.

Translating the verb tenses correctly is a challenge. Verb systems do different things in different languages. It is not necessary to perfectly line up the verb tenses. It may sound artificial and can introduce misunderstanding.
This feature is considered relevant for this psalm.,

Person, gender and number

Definition Feature being studied	Occurrences Sections where this feature is present or absent	Clustering	Intersection	Connections	Structure
3rd person	הלך (v.1b), עמד (v.1c), ישב (v.1d), יהגה (v.2b), והיה (v.3a), יתן (v.3b), יבול (v.3c), יצליח (v.3d), תדפנו (v.4b), יקמו (v.5a), תאבד (v.6b)	entire psalm: every verb in the psalm which is marked for person is 3rd person			Cohesion.
plural	יקמו (v.5a)	only one occurrence at v.5a; all other verbs are singular	beginning of subunit within 2nd strophe

This feature is considered relevant for this psalm.,

Verb stem types (binyanim)

Definition Feature being studied	Occurrences Sections where this feature is present or absent	Clustering	Intersection	Connections	Structure
Qal	הלך (v.1b), עמד (v.1c), ישב (v.1d), יהגה (v.2b), והיה (v.3a), יתן (v.3b), יבול (v.3c), תדפנו (v.4b), יקמו (v.5a), יודע (v.6a), תאבד (v.6b)	v.1bcd, v.3abc, v.6ab
Hiphil	יצליח (v.3d)	one occurrence at 3d; absent elsewhere	occurs immediately before a break - the second part of the psalm.<!--Jason.Sommerlad-->		The distribution of verb stems in this psalm "might seem normal, since more than two-thirds of all verbs in the Hebrew Bible are qal, and hiphil is the next most common stem. The hiphil in 1:3[d], however, not only stands in contrast to the consistent qals in the rest of the poem but also concludes its first main section, the 'happy man' (1a-3e)."<ref>Frederic Putnam, “Working with Biblical Hebrew Poetry,” in Basics of Hebrew Discourse, edited by Miles van Pelt (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2019), 184-185.</ref>

• v.3d. Is יַצְלִיחַ transitive or intransitive? In the Hiphil stem, הצליח may be either intransitive ("to be successful") or transitive ("to make something a success").

Collins argues that we should "take the Hiphil in the intransitive sense, since no causative agent is mentioned."

However, Delitzsch argues that the transitive reading with "the man" as the subject is the most natural. "This Hiph. (from צלח, Arab. tslh, to divide, press forward, press through, vid., Psalm 45:5) signifies both causative: to cause anything to go through, or prosper (Genesis 34:23), and transitive: to carry through, and intransitive: to succeed, prosper (Judges 18:5). With the first meaning, Jahve would be the subject; with the third, the project of the righteous; with the middle one, the righteous man himself. This last is the most natural: everything he takes in hand he brings to a successful issue (an expression like 2 Chronicles 7:11; 2 Chronicles 31:21; Daniel 8:24)."

Goldingay makes a similar argument. "The verb ṣālaḥ (hiphil) can be used intransitively with an impersonal subject (see Judg. 18:5) but the transitive usage is much more common (e.g., Ps. 37:7; Deut. 28:29; Josh. 1:8; Isa. 48:15); 2 Chron. 7:11 is esp. similar to this instance. NRSV likely presupposes this understanding (cf. its rendering at Ps. 37:7). While God can be the subject of this verb, neither those parallels nor the present context points in this direction."

"The hiphil of the verb, which may be transitive, intransitive, or causative, allows a surfeit of meaning here, altogether performing the flourishing that is conveyed. The promise of flourishing is being played out in the abundance of lines and in the polyvalence of the text."

This feature is considered relevant for this psalm.,

Other

Verb Morphology

Verse	Verb	Stem	Conjugation	Person	Gender	Number	Suffix	Root
1b	הָלַךְ	Q	qatal	3	m	s		הלך
1c	עָמַד	Q	qatal	3	m	s		עמד
1d	לֵצִים	Q	participle		m	p		ליץ
1d	יָשָׁב	Q	qatal	3	m	s		ישׁב
2b	יֶהְגֶּה	Q	yiqtol	3	m	s		הגה
3a	וְהָיָה	Q	weqatal	3	m	s		היה
3a	שָׁתוּל	Qp	participle		m	s		שׁתל
3b	יִתֵּן	Q	yiqtol	3	m	s		נתן
3c	יִבּוֹל	Q	yiqtol	3	m	s		נבל
3d	יַצְלִיחַ	H	yiqtol	3	m	s		צלח
4c	תִּדְּפֶנּוּ	Q	yiqtol	3	f	s	3ms	נדף
5a	יָקוּמוּ	Q	yiqtol	3	m	p		קום
6a	ַיוֹדֵע	Q	participle		m	s		ידע
6b	תֹּאבֵד	Q	yiqtol	3	f	s		אבד